1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly for mounting on a ceiling of a vehicle room of various kinds of vehicles, and more particularly to an assembly structure in which the efficiency of an assembling operation is enhanced, and the number of component parts can be reduced.
2. Related Art
Interior vehicle lamps, such as a room lamp and a spot lamp, have heretofore been mounted on a ceiling of a vehicle. One example of structures of wiring to such interior vehicle lamps by a roof wire harness is shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 2-124344A.
As shown in FIGS. 7 to 10, a groove 52 is formed in a peripheral surface of each of a spot light unit 50 and a room lamp unit 51, and a clamp 53 for retaining the unit on a vehicle body is formed on and projects from an upper surface of each of the units. Similarly, clamps 53 are formed on and project from a switch unit 54 on which operation switches of the units 50 and 51 are provided in a concentrated manner.
A flat wire harness 56 includes a plurality of circuit members 57 fixed together in an insulated manner into a flat plate-shape by an insulating sheet 58. The circuit members 57 forms input-output wiring patterns for the units 50, 51 and 54. The circuit member 57 is formed by covering and fixing flattened conductors by the insulating film 58, or by coating an electrically-conductive paste.
As shown in FIG. 10, as the flat wire harness, there can be used a flat cable 56a which is formed by molding a plurality of insulating sheathed wires 57a into a flat plate-shape.
As shown in FIG. 9, mounting holes 60 for the units 50 and 51 are formed through a formed ceiling 59 adapted to be mounted on a ceiling portion of the automobile. A fitting projection 61 for engagement in the groove 52 is formed on an inner peripheral edge of the mounting hole 60.
Similarly to the units 50 and 51, a connector 62 for connecting the flat wire harness 56 to a body harness (not shown) has a clamp 53.
In the roof wire harness W, the connector 62 is connected to a trunk line portion 56A of the flat wire harness 56. The units 50 and 51 are connected respectively to branch line portions 56B. The switch unit 54 is connected to a pillar mounting portion 56C of the trunk line portion. With this arrangement, the circuit members 57 are integrally connected to the units 50, 51 and 54.
FIG. 10 shows the connection structure in which the flat cable 56a is used instead of the flat wire harness 56. More specifically, press-connecting terminals 69 for electrical connection to circuit members are beforehand fixed to the switch unit 54 by press-fitting, a unit cover 55, having clamps 72 for retaining this cover on the switch unit 54, as well as wire-pressing projections 71, is pressed against the switch unit 54 to be attached thereto, so that the insulating sheathed wires 57a are press-fitted respectively into slots 70 of the press-connecting terminals 69, and therefore are connected thereto, respectively.
Therefore, the installation and fixing of the roof wire harness W can be effected by inserting each clamp 53 into a hole 73 in the vehicle body R, as shown in FIG. 9. Then, the formed ceiling 59 is arranged such that the mounting hole 60 in this formed ceiling is disposed in registry with the unit 50, and in this condition the formed ceiling 59 is pushed in a direction of arrows to be set in position. As a result, the formed ceiling 59 is provisionally fixed through the engagement of the fitting projection 61 in the groove 52. In this condition, an outer peripheral portion of the formed ceiling 59 is fixedly held between a garnish (not shown) and the vehicle body R.
Alternatively, the units 50 and 51 can be beforehand fixedly fitted respectively in the mounting holes 60 in the formed ceiling 59, as shown in FIG. 8. In this case, it is only necessary to mount the formed ceiling 59, having the roof wire harness-W installed thereon, on the vehicle body R, and the provision of the clamp 53 on each unit 50, 51 can be omitted.
In the above related roof wire harness, although the number of the exterior parts, such as tapes and tubes, covering the wire harness, can be reduced, it is difficult to reduce the number of component parts including a printed circuit board (PCB), a connector and a lamp lead wire circuit in the lamp unit.
Namely, the printed circuit board and the wire harness are separate from each other, and a connector and so on are required for connecting the two together. In addition, the wiring for the lamp need to be installed separately. Therefore, because of these, the number of the component parts increases, and also the time and labor, required for the operation, increase.
And besides, in the wire harness and the wires, integrally mounted on the formed ceiling, it is necessary to apply a flattening processing such as adhesive bonding and molding, and this increases the cost.
This invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the invention is to provide a vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly in which the number of component parts, as well as the time and labor for the operation, can be reduced, and besides a compact, lightweight design can be achieved.
The above problems have been solved by a vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly including:
a casing fixed to a vehicle ceiling and including a lamp unit provided with a interior lamp;
a flexible printed circuit fixed to the casing and provided with a switch for controlling a lighting of the interior lamp;
a flexible flat cable for external connection electrically connected to one end of the flexible printed circuit;
an over head console retained on the casing and provided with a operation switch witch operates the switch.
In the vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly, preferably, bosses, formed on the casing, are passed respectively through boss passage holes formed in the flexible printed circuit, and the flexible printed circuit is welded to the casing by heating the bosses.
Therefore, any screw or the like is not necessary for fixing the flexible printed circuit, and the whole of the vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly can be formed into a thin design.
In the vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly, preferably, an end portion of the flexible printed circuit is folded to be inserted into a fitting portion of a recess-shape formed on the casing, and a circuit pattern of the flexible printed circuit is exposed to a side surface of the fitting portion to form a connection portion for electrical connection to a member (e.g. an interior vehicle lamp or an optional member) fitted into the fitting portion.
Therefore, part of the circuit pattern is used as the connection terminal for electrical connection to the interior vehicle lamp or other member, and parts, such as a printed circuit board and a connector, are unnecessary, and also lamp lead wires are unnecessary, and therefore the time and labor, required for wiring, can be saved.
In the vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly, preferably, the flexible printed circuit and the flexible flat cable are connected together by press-claming or welding.
Therefore, the compact, lightweight design of the vehicle ceiling-mounting electric equipment assembly can be achieved, and the transfer in the production process is easy, and the assembly can be handled easily when it is distributed as a product.